Holiday mood continues in city life

Roads in the capital still represent a bare pathway with unusual serenity after the three-day Eid vacation that completely belie their usual appearance of inevitable tailbacks the city dwellers endure in their everyday life.

Public and private offices yesterday saw very low presence of employees after the vacation, and those who joined the first day of work after Eid with sincerity spent the day by exchanging Eid greetings and chatting with less work in hand.

During Eid-ul Azha, people offer animals as sacrifice to God with the commemoration of Hazrat Ibrahim's sacrifice for Allah, and this sacrifice adds a special joy to the celebration. Office-goers in the city mostly take extra few days' leave to go to their ancestral or village homes for celebrating Eid with their near and dear ones ignoring the heavy rush of people for any mode of transport.

With the majority of the population leaving, the city roads get a relief for a few days.

"I came to Moghbazar from Motijheel by bus which took only five minutes and I had a pleasant stroll on my way to office," said Biplob, an employee of a private firm in the city's Karwan Bazar.

"I wish Dhaka was always like this," he sighed to voice many of the office-goers' yearning yesterday.

Meanwhile, the secretariat also observed a relaxed day yesterday with a very few officials attending the office since ministers are busy celebrating the festival with their family members and party men in their constituencies.

"Today (yesterday) was almost a day of exchanging greetings with a thin presence of officers," said an official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.

"This time two days of the three-day vacation fell in weekly holidays--Friday and Saturday," moaned an official of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.

The secretariat would be active in a day or two, and those who went home on vacation already started arriving in the capital, he said.

Gias Uddin Ahmed, a banker, said he took two days extra leave to spend some more time with his family in Begumganj, Noakhali.